Environmental concerns and limited natural resources are highlighting the desire for reduced fuel consumption. One promising avenue toward the reduction of fuel consumption is the use of hybrid powertrains. Many hybrid powertrains utilize regenerative braking to increase the overall efficiency of the system. Regenerative braking recovers kinetic energy from a moving vehicle and utilizes the recovered energy to store electrical potential energy. In presently available hybrid powertrain systems, regenerative braking can be triggered by means other than actuation of the brake pedal, such as by lifting of the accelerator pedal. This creates difficulties in regulating the maximum breaking, particularly in vehicles where vehicle weight widely varies due to cargo loading, which results in widely variable braking requirements. Too little regenerative braking on, for example, a heavily loaded vehicle can produce inadequate deceleration causing the operator to depend more on friction braking and harm fuel economy and increase brake wear. Too much regenerative braking on an empty or lightly loaded vehicle can cause excessive deceleration and possible traction control issues on the roadway. Therefore, further technological developments are desirable in this area.